WASHINGTON 

Türkiye and the US are determined to revitalize and further bilateral economic relations, Turkish Trade Minister Omer Bolat said.

"In the economic field, the governments of both countries are determined to revitalize and further develop relations," Bolat told Anadolu in an exclusive interview on Thursday.

His remarks came on the sidelines of the 39th American-Turkish Conference in Washington which is a premier venue for US and Turkish business leaders to engage in commercial diplomacy.

Pointing out that Türkiye and the US have been allies for more than 70 years, Bolat said that although there are some tensions in the political and economic fields from time to time, there is an increasing trade volume between the two countries.

Bolat added that the US has more than $2 trillion of imports and noted that Türkiye's exports to the US are around $14 billion.

Türkiye and the US want to reach a $100-billion trade volume target set by the leaders of the two countries, he stressed.

The minister said more than 120 managers from large- and medium-sized companies of the US will be in Istanbul next week at the Trade Winds event to hold meetings with their counterparts from the business world for three days.

Türkiye's stance on Israel is 'clear'

About Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz's claims of Ankara easing its trade ban with Israel, Bolat said they were "completely inconsistent."

"Since it was written in Hebrew, it is a text that seems to have been given to satisfy its own public and political supporters. It is a product of imagination, has nothing to do with reality, and is incompatible with the seriousness of statesmanship," he added.

Katz claimed on X that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lifted many of the trade restrictions he imposed on Israel.

Stating that Türkiye's stance on this issue is clear, Bolat emphasized that Turkish Foreign Ministry has been making intense efforts to stop the "brutal attacks" carried out by Israel since Oct. 7, 2023 on the Gaza Strip.

On May 2, the Turkish Trade Ministry announced that Ankara suspended all export and import operations with Israel due to its "aggression against Palestine in violation of international law and human rights."

Turning to the Pro-Palestine college campus protests spread across the US and some other EU countries, Bolat said: "This cry began to echo all over the world."

The minister advised companies trading with Israel to find new export markets and not to disrupt their trade.

Pointing out that there is more important humanitarian problem here than trade, Bolat said Türkiye could not be expected to remain indifferent to the murder of more than 35,000 people, mostly women and children.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip in retaliation for a Hamas-led attack in October, which killed less than 1,200 people.

More than 34,900 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, the vast majority of whom have been women and children. Over 78,500 others have been injured, according to Palestinian health authorities. Thousands remain missing.

Seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, according to the UN. Most of the displaced have sought refuge in Rafah following earlier Israeli evacuation orders.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January said it is "plausible" that Tel Aviv is committing genocide in the coastal enclave, and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians